Profits slumped 17 per cent at G4S last year as the security and cleaning group racked up £55m in fees on its failed bid for the Denmark's ISS.

The lion's share of the £55m in fees went to three banks – Hoare Govett, Deutsche and Greenhill – all of whom were dropped as advisers by G4S earlier this month.

Nick Buckles, G4S chief executive, pictured, dropped his £5bn move for ISS in November after a major shareholder rebellion.

In a sign of how the ISS saga continues to affect the group, Mr Buckles now plans to make only about £200m of acquisitions this year. He said G4S has "good trading momentum", with pre-tax profits of £279m on revenues up 4.5 per cent on a like-for-like basis to £7.52bn.